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Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain

Summary: Huckleberry Finn, known better as Huck, writes an autobiographical review of his adventure down the Mississippi river and his attempt to free a slave.

Characters:

Huckleberry Finn - Also known as Huck, Is a free spirit, helps Jim runaway

Tom Sawyer - Huck's best friend

Jim - Mrs Watson's yard helper, slave

Mrs. Watson - Widowed woman that adopts Huckleberry

King - the old conman

Duke - the younger conman

Chapter One:

Huck says Mark Twain told mostly truth in the book Tom Sawyer; Tells us he is rich from the gold he and Tom found

Huck complains the widow that adopted him is too constricting, is trying to teach him, and doesn't let him have fun

Huck tells of a time when he ran off, Tom talked him into coming back by saying he will start a gang of robbers with Huck

Huck is very superstitions, kills a spider on accident calls it an bad omen; Tom calls Huck down from the room he is in.

Chapter Two:

Tom takes Huck to meet up with some other boys to start the gang of robbers, they decide on rules to follow.

No one knows what it is to ransom someone, they think it means to kill them; Huck gets home as the sun comes up.

Tom plays a prank on Jim hanging his hat on the tree above him; Jim says witches came and road him, the story gets bigger every time he tells it again.

Chapter Three:

Huck is glad is Dad is gone because his dad would beat him

Huck is a literal thinker while Tom Sawyer uses his imagination; Evidenced by the gang going after a bunch of "Arabs" for diamonds

Huck tries to decide what he thinks about God vs Devil; finally decides to go with God based after Mrs. Watson's Stories

Chapter Four:

Huck sees tracks in the snow, checks them and notices they have a cross formed from nails hammered into the heel; knows it is his father's tracks

Huck tries to get rid of his money, then goes and ask Jim for fortune telling from "A big Hairball that is said to have a spirit in it"

Huck's dad is in his room waiting for Huck

Chapter Five:

Huck's dad is discovered to be a drunk, illiterate that beats Huck; Huck's dad is upset that Huck knows how to read, says he will beat it out of Huck and " It's not right to think you are better than your dad."

Huck's dad gets custody of Huck back from a new judge, gets thrown in jail for drinking, then the new judge tries to "make a men of him" but is unsuccessful when Huck's dad decides he wants to drink again.

Chapter Six:

Huck begins to like not having to go to school, but doesn't like the beatings he is getting from his dad; decides it is time to escape.

Huck's dad complains that the government is worthless because a black man "that was a professor" could vote in the state he was from, didn't get out of the way for him, and is not being sold because "He has not lived in the state for at least six months"

Huck starts his escape plan after finding a saw blade, starts to cut a hole in the floor; dad comes home gets drunk chases Huck around with a knife saying Huck is the angel of death and must be killed so Huck will not be able to kill him. Huck's dad passes out, Huck gets the gun and watches him.

Chapter Seven:

Huck finds a canoe floating in the river, hides it in the brush

Huck creates a plan that will let him get out without being followed by either his dad, or the widow Watson; Huck kills a pig and drags the blood in the cabin to make people think it was him takes everything in the cabin to make it look like a robbery; then heads off down the river to Jackson's Island

Chapter Eight:

Huck finds Jim on the island, then ask Jim why he is there; Jim tells Huck he better not tell him, but then does tell him after Huck swears not to tell anyone.

Jim ran away, causes Huck to say he won't tell anyone even though some would call him a "ablitionist and despise me"

Chapter Nine:

Jim convinces Huck to go stay in a cave with him, it rains and the river raises.

Jim shows concern for Huck by helping to take care of him, and also telling him to look away from a dead man they found

Chapter Ten:

Jim gets bit by a snake after a Huck touches snake skin (which is a bad omen according to Jim); Jim gets better, Huck decides to listen to Jim about snake skin

Huck dresses as a girl and heads to town to try and find out any information he can

Chapter Eleven:

Huck finds a house with a woman that is new to town, starts to talk with her; she lets him know there is a bounty out for Jim and Huck's dad for killing Huck; most think the dad did it though.

The women in the house figures Huck for a boy, but thinks he is a runaway apprentice; Tells him to throw like a girl, thread like a girl (thread to needle), etc

Huck finds out the lady's husband is going to the island to search for Jim; Huck rushes off to tell Jim they have to leave

Chapter Twelve:

Huck and Jim get away from Jackson island and start to head down the river on a raft with the canoe tied next to them; They build a shelter on the raft to stay in.

Huck sees a steamboat that has been wrecked and wants to check it out; Jim doesn't want to go but does anyway because of Huck; There is a strong storm during all this.

On the boat Huck hears voices and goes to check it out; the voices are of three robbers, two of them are about to kill the last

Huck runs back to Jim tells him they have to get off the boat; Jim tells Huck the raft is gone.

Chapter Thirteen:

Huck and Jim find the robber's raft and take it; Huck feels bad for putting the gang in so much trouble (They will most likely drown because of the storm and the boat breaking up.)

Huck goes and tells a river watchmen about the boat, makes up a story to get him to go; Huck sees the boat with the robbers has been washed away. Thinks the gang is dead.

Chapter Fourteen:

Huck and Jim talk about kings, Jim thinks King Solomon would cut a child in half because he already has so many kids, Jim also think Frenchmen are men so they should talk like a man (like he and Huck); Huck tries to argue both but gives up.

Chapter Fifteen:

Huck and Jim get separated when the raft line breaks; All night they try to get to eachother but can't because of a fog

After the fog clears Huck find Jim tricks Jim into thinking the whole thing was a dream; Huck breaks the joke to Jim; Jim is upset because of the joke on him, tells Huck a real friend would not do that when they care about the other so much. (Jim thought Huck was dead) ;

Huck ends up apologizing to Jim; Says to himself he would not play a trick on Jim again.

Chapter Sixteen:

Huck and Jim figure out they have gone too far and passed Cairo, which is where Jim will be free.

Huck decides that his conscience has got him feeling bad about not giving Jim up because it is the right thing to do; Decides to give Jim up, but when he gets the chance he save Jim again

After Huck saves Jim; Huck decides he just wasn't brought up right so he can't do the right thing; decides he would have felt bad for giving up Jim or not giving him up, so he is going to stay with Jim and help him.

A river boat runs over the raft Huck and Jim are on; They are separated when they both dive into the water different directions.

Chapter Seventeen:

Huck is taken in by a family that lives next to the river, he likes it there; and they feed him well.

Chapter Eighteen:

Huck finds out the family he is staying with is in a feud

Huck finds Jim through one of the family's slaves (Jim found him and talked to him) ; Jim also found and repaired the raft.

Huck sees most of the family men he is with get killed in a feud fight; He takes off and he and Jim start down the river again

Chapter Nineteen:

Huck saves a couple of conman, they say they are royalty want to be called the Duke and King; Huck goes along with it because "it would keep peace in the family"

Chapter Twenty:

The Duke comes up with a plan to run the raft in the day by making a fake reward poster for Jim; They will tie him up everytime someone ask about him, then show the poster.

Chapter Twenty-one:

Huck, Jim, King, and Duke stop at a town; There is a man there that is drunk calling for death on some people; Everyone laughs because its regular but he doesn't hurt anyone

The drunk man says someone cheated him, the accused kills him in the street; the drunk did not have time to defend himself.

Chapter Twenty-Two:

A crowd is formed to lynch the murderer, they all stop when he confronts them; tells them they are cowards, and the south's way is to kill in a man in the dark, behind his back with a mob. He also said it is the same mentality that an army has; they will only have courage from the numbers they have.

Chapter Twenty-Three:

The King and Duke swindle a town; Jim and Huck agree they would like to get rid of them

Huck listens to Jim at night mumbling about his wife and children; Jim tells Huck about a time when he got upset at his daughter for not listening to him, but them realized she was deaf. Jim is very upset for that one time; Huck looks at Jim as more of a human being with feelings rather than a slave animal.

Chapter Twenty-Four:

The king and Huck head off to another town when they run into a fellow that tells them of a dead man that had brothers that had never met. ; The dead man was well off with quite a bit of money to give them; The king decides to pretend to be the brother; Huck says "It was enough to make a body ashamed of the human race."

Chapter Twenty-Five:

The King and Duke play at being the brothers of the dead man, and fool everyone except the doctor; The doctor tries to warn the daughters, but they ignore him.

Chapter Twenty-Six:

Huck decides the daughters of the dead man are nice; feels bad for helping the King and Duke; Huck steals the money and hides it, he will send a letter later to tell the daughters where to find it.

Chapter Twenty-Seven:

Huck hides the money in the casket of the dead man; As far as he knows no one notices and the coffin is nailed shut; The king and Duke think the slaves took it.

Chapter Twenty-Eight:

Huck finds one of the daughters, Marry Jane; He tells her the truth about the King and Duke because she is crying about the slaves being separated from eachother. (They are mother and two sons) ;

Chapter Twenty-Nine:

Huck thinks his plan is going correctly when two people show up claiming to be the true brothers of the dead man.

Huck , the King, and the Duke are taken with the two new men, and all of them are asked questions.

Finally a question of a tattoo on the dead man's chest comes up, and to solve it they did up the coffin; The man holding Huck lets go when he hears there is a bag of gold in the coffin, and Huck runs off; He thinks he has gotten away from the King and Duke but they someone catch up with him on the river.

Chapter Thirty:

The King and Duke both think the other tried to take the money that was found in the coffin; The King confesses to it when the Duke threatens to drown him;

Chapter Thirty-One:

Huck finds out Jim was sold by the King and Duke for $40

Huck still thinks that it is bad to help Jim but decides that he'd rather go to hell than do something to hurt him

Huck finds the Duke and pretends that he doesn't know what happened to Jim; The Duke lies to him about where Jim is.

Chapter Thirty-Two:

Huck heads to the farm he knows Jim is at; When he gets there the lady of the house thinks it is her kin come to visit.

Huck plays along and right before he tells the truth he finds out they think he is Tom Sawyer, his best friend

Chapter Thirty-Three:

Huck meets up with Tom Sawyer and tells him what is going on, Tom says he will help get Jim away

Tom pretends to be his brother Sid; Tom and Huck find out the King and Duke are discovered as frauds, and try to warn them but they are too late

Huck remarks that humans do some pretty aweful things to eachother when he sees the King and Duke tarred and feathered.

Chapter Thirty-Four:

Tom and Huck make a plan to set Jim free; They decide to dig him out because it has the most style.

Chapter Thirty-Five:

Tom wants the plan to have style and be difficult to pull off; however it is so easy he ends up making the task difficult himself; Huck doesn't understand it, but he knows it must be better because of the style.

Chapter Thirty-Six:

Tom and Huck continue with their plan to get Jim out;

Chapter Thirty-Seven:

Huck and Tom are almost caught because the lady of the house notices the missing items they took; Huck and Tom start to put them back and take them again until she doesn't want to count the stuff(spoons,candles,bed sheets) anymore.

Chapter Thirty-Eight:

Tom continues his attempts to make the prison break be like a break out of a story by needing snakes, rats, or watering a plant with tears.(This way the break is done right)

Chapter Thirty-Nine:

Huck and Tom continue their plan, adding notes to inform the family that something is up; because "there is always an anonymous letter" to let the master of the house/castle know there is something going on.

Chapter Forty:

It is the night Huck and Tom are going to break Jim out; Their notes have caused enough panic that 15 farmers with guns have come to help stop the "bandits"

Huck and Tom continue with their plan, Tom gets shot in the calf but is happy about it because it is a good story; Jim refuses to continue with the plan until Tom has seen a doctor even though he could escape now and be safe.

Chapter Forty-One:

Huck gets the doctor for Tom; The doctor goes across the river on his own because he says the canoe is too small

Huck goes to town to see if the doctor is back yet, runs into Toms' uncle; gets taken back to the house.

Chapter Forty-Two:

Tom is carried back to the house on a mattress and Jim is tied up behind him;

Jim was caught because the doctor needed help and he came out of hiding to help him

Tom is in a fever but when he wakes up he explains the entire jailbreak to his aunt; Tom finds out Jim is recaptured and then says he must be let free because the Widow Watson died two months ago and in her will she set him free.

Tom's aunt from their home town arrives; Huck and Tom are found out.

Chapter Forty-Three:

Jim is set free and given a big dinner when the aunt finds out how he helped the doctor

Huck finds out that his dad was one of the dead people Jim didn't want him to see

OTHER NOTES:

Huckleberry Finn is writing this book like an autobiography

The book shows a lot of the old southern ways in regards to feuds, killing because of personal dignity, and superstition (all seen directly through Huck's eyes)

Huck and Jim build a relationship through the entire book, until Huck would rather go to Hell than turn Jim in.